Amendment 49

Sandra Hagen Solin, writing as the issues manager for the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance (NCLA), explains in today’s Fort Collins Coloradoan why her organization backs Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards initiative:

Amendment 49 prevents state and local governments from bundling money from public employees’ paychecks and delivering the funds to special interests, like unions. The NCLA [...]

A letter writer in today’s Fort Collins Coloradoan speaks out for Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards initiative:

I feel the editors of the Coloradoan have shortchanged their readers with their attempt to dismiss any serious constitutional proposal with the “just-say-no-to-everything” approach. They dismissed Amendment 49 as an anti-union attempt to manipulate the Constitution - which makes [...]

Former state treasurer Mark Hillman explains the simple logic that underlies the Ethical Standards initiative:

Amendment 49 (”ethical standards”) prohibits state and local governments from intercepting a worker’s paycheck to collect dues or contributions for unions, lobbyists or any other special interest. It simply requires all interest groups to ask supporters directly for their contribution, [...]

The editors of Colorado’s largest daily newspaper have joined the growing list of supporters behind Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards initiative. From today’s lead editorial in the Denver Post:

Amendment 49 has been lumped together with two other ballot measures being targeted by unions, and lots of money is being spent to convince voters its something [...]

Today the editors of the Longmont Times-Call formally endorsed Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards Initiative, noting:
The accounting system of the government shouldn’t be used to send money to unions or special interests that use the funds to influence campaigns. Plain and simple.

The list of endorsements for Amendment 49 keeps growing.

From a press release sent out to explain a deal Amendment 49 proponent Jon Caldara issued today in a letter to Gov. Bill Ritter:

DENVER–Amendment 49’s leading proponent has formally offered to remove the initiative from the ballot if Colorado’s governor will work to stop the unionization of state government.
Jon Caldara today submitted a letter to [...]

From today’s lead editorial in the Rocky Mountain News:

We don’t know at what point Amendment 49 got thrown into the mix - or why it should even be there, since it appears to us to be a benign good-government measure.
As you may have guessed, we support Amendment 49 - just as we previously supported various [...]

From an editorial in today’s Grand Junction Daily Sentinel on the Ethical Standards Initiative:

Employees could still belong to professional organizations or unions, but would have to pay dues some other way.
Despite the scare tactics from the union-backed mailer, that’s not something that endangers public safety.
“The government shouldn’t be bookkeeper, accountant and collection agency” for these [...]